Piece of Mind
by devilishblacksheep
Summary: [PKJ]based on ep of the same name. it's told from Riley's POV, with some stuff that never happened thrown in to supplement the jumps in plot points. cuz i was kind of irked that a big deal was made about riley losing his memory, but nothing was made of it
1. Chapter 1

**I meant to post this a couple weeks ago when the episode actually aired, but what with finals and other academic-related stuff it wasn't ready to be posted until now. But here it is. Not sure if anyone else actually wants to read it, but even if you're not into Painkiller Jane, it's a pretty good fic, I think…although I'm kind of biased, so maybe you should read it for yourself before you make the call.**

**When I saw the episode "Piece of Mind" when it aired, I was kind of annoyed that after Riley lost his memory he kind of fell off the radar for the most part. So, in typical fashion, I wrote my own version of events, filling in the blanks as necessary. And this is the end result. A lot of it kind of refers to stuff that happened in the episode, so if you've never seen it you might have a little trouble following it. Sorry about that; I've tried to add as much relevant outside information without screwing up the narrative as possible. Enjoy.**

**Oh, by the way: I own nothing and am getting paid nothing…alright, now you can read it.**

It's amazing how fast your world can change. One event, no matter how tiny, and suddenly things are entirely different. One action can turn your entire world upside down or erase it entirely. Riley learned that the hard way.

He wanted to check his lead out that night, felt it was important that he did. It didn't matter that Jane didn't want to go, or that there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him it was a bad idea, that he should just go back to his computers and wait until people better suited to this kind of thing could take over. He had just made a breakthrough, and the accompanying rush from finding another piece of the puzzle was flowing in his veins. He was invincible.

So he went out to find the pharmacy, against his better judgment, partly to prove he could work in the field too and partly to take the sting out of Jane's rejection. It wasn't the nicest part of town, but then again, when it came to Neuros it rarely was. He followed the blinking light on the map he had downloaded, turning right and left as the map indicated. He was almost there when he noticed a couple of guys following him. Nothing strange, at least not in this part of town, but it was enough to make him a little uneasy, a feeling that only increased when he tried to evade them and a third guy ran into him.

He tried to escape. He was a skinny guy, and could usually wriggle out of whatever trouble he got himself into, but these guys were a lot bigger than he was, and much more determined to keep him there. He yelled for help, but, typical of this area of town, there was no one there to help. _Not that they would if there was anyone here_, he thought sullenly.

They pushed him roughly against a building, kicking at any and every exposed area. He groaned as he felt a rib crack, silently swearing at himself that he hadn't taken more advantage of the training room at the base. Then maybe he wouldn't feel so helpless.

Finally they stopped and were gone as quickly as they had appeared, leaving him on the ground bloody, battered, and out of breath. He slowly sat up, hissing when he jostled the cracked rib, and was startled to see a man's face when he looked up. It was a homeless guy, if the condition of his clothing was any indication, and he was muttering medical babble, most of which Riley didn't understand. The pieces clicked.

"You're the one with Dr. Rafferty's medical knowledge. The homeless guy. The one you told the paramedics how to treat." He only became more certain when the guy gave him a blank stare and continued muttering about the best way to treat Riley's injuries.

Riley pulled out his cell. If this was the Neuro they were looking for, he had to tell Andre as soon as possible; there was no knowing what the guy might do. He tapped a foot impatiently until Andre picked up. "Riley?" the man asked, curious as to why his communications tech was calling him this late.

"Yeah. I found the Neuro. Alley behind Seventh and Coulter."

"Alright. Riley. Now listen to me; don't move, don't do anything. We'll be there in fifteen."

"Oh, don't worry; I'm in too much pain to go anywhere anyway," he said wryly as the muscles in his side twinged. He hung up, and began to idly pace back and forth, waiting for the rest of the team to show up.

In one pass a man grabbed his wrist, stopping him briefly. He backed up instinctively, pulling away, but not before a strange feeling crept up his spine. Nothing he could exactly put a finger on, just…weird. Everything started to get hazy, unclear. He put a hand to his forehead, checking the damage, and winced when the movement jostled his rib.

The next thing he knew, everything was…gone. Name, address, place of business, reason he was in the bad part of town, what town it was, everything. His mind was a blank slate. He looked around, unable to recognize anything. He walked down the sidewalk, hoping to see something, _anything_, that was familiar. Unfortunately, the further away he got from where he had been standing, the more unfamiliar things looked. _Alright, don't panic. There has to be a reason, right? Think, think, what's the last thing you remember?_ He drew a blank. _Fuck, what's the matter with me?_ He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard voices talking relatively nearby.

"Hey."

"Yeah, nothing. Not a damn thing."

"Come on; I told him to stay put." The voice was annoyed.

"Hey, there he is!" A third voice, excited, relieved. He heard the people moving closer to where he was standing, calling a name. "Riley! Riley! Riley?"

He briefly looked towards the direction the voices were coming from, then, not knowing why, he took off down the street, running as fast as his cracked rib would let him. The voices got louder, but it only spurred him to move faster. _What do they want? And who's Riley?_ He stumbled, but caught himself before he hit the ground and kept going, fueled by an overpowering need to get away.

Eventually he couldn't run any longer, and he stopped, panting. The people following him finally caught up and surrounded him, looking at him in a mixture of confusion and concern. He returned their looks, circling slowly, keeping an eye on all of them. There were four of them; an older man, a younger guy who looked like he should buy stock in steroids, and two chicks, both of which looked like they could take care of themselves in a fight. He fought every instinct in his body telling him to run. He had to try to stay calm. Maybe things weren't as bad as they looked, maybe they could help…_Yeah, and I'm the Czar of Russia…_He chuckled under his breath; for all he knew, he could be.

"Riley?" The question was asked softer this time, as if talking to a cornered animal. He looked at the woman in confusion. They acted like they knew him, but their faces were unfamiliar, like so many other things. The name registered nothing. He backed up slowly, ready to run the moment an opening presented itself.

"Riley, what's wrong?"

"Riley, talk to us buddy. What's going on?"

He looked from one face to another, terrified but trying to hide it. "What do you want from me?"

His question was ignored, as if it was irrelevant. "Riley. Where's the neuro?"

He looked at the man who had asked the question in confusion. He didn't know what was going on here or why these people seemed convinced that they knew him, but he was curious in spite of himself. "What's a neuro?"

The others looked at him, dumbfounded. Had he said something wrong?

**Dun dun dunn…there's at least one more chapter, probably two. Let me know if you want them posted.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the really long break between chapters; first I got distracted from the fic, then finals came around so I didn't have time to continue, then school ended and I kinda didn't have the opportunity to update. But, a few months later, and here is the second chapter. The third (and possibly last) will be up as soon as I finish it, I promise. **

Somehow they managed to get him to an abandoned subway platform, against his better judgment. But he figured since they seemed to know him, and in turn expected him to know them, it was probably his best bet if he wanted to figure out what was going on.

He was brought down to a room that looked like it was a medical bay, and was passed off to a young Indian man with a British accent. "Hello. I am Dr. Carpenter. You can call me Seth," the man said awkwardly, obviously caught off guard by the situation.

He smiled shyly, looking sheepish. From the look of things he was supposed to know this guy, but he had nothing.

"Well, Jane said you seem to have lost some memory."

He shrugged. "So they tell me…" He paused. "Which one's Jane?" he asked sheepishly.

"She's the blonde. The other one is Maureen, the older man is Andre, and the one with the muscles is Connor. I'm not sure if you've met Joe yet; he's the one that told us about this building. He's kind of a caretaker for the building." The doctor let him take in the information, then brought them back to the business at hand. "Well, let's run some tests, shall we?" The doctor indicated that he should sit down. He sat on the cot and waited.

"Okay. I'm going to do the simpler tests first; check your injuries, vital signs, that kind of thing. Just to rule out the more basic causes."

"Okay." He removed his jacket and sat quietly as the doctor (_Seth, he said I should call him Seth_) wrapped up his cracked rib and disinfected his scratches then checked his heart rate and breathing. He then told him to lower his head, and began to gently probe his scalp, looking for any bumps or bruises.

"Well," Seth said finally. "There doesn't seem to be anything _physically_ wrong with you..."

"That's…good…?" he asked hesitantly.

The doctor sighed. "It depends. If it was caused by a Neuro-"

"Umm, yeah, about that…the other guys said that when they found me; what's a neuro?"

The doctor looked uncomfortable. "It's a human with a genetic aberration, but we're not really sure why; they have additional 'abilities,' in this case the ability to steal memories from people."

He sat for a moment, absorbing the information. "So I may not get them back, if it was caused by one of these…Neuros."

"Correct."

He chewed his lip, thinking. "Well," Seth said, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Let's see how bad the damage is, shall we?"

"Might as well…"

"Alright. Do you know your name?"

He thought, straining for a name, a sound, a letter, even. Anything. After a few minutes he shook his head. "Sorry."

"That's alright. How about an address? Do you know where you live?"

There was a pause, and he shook his head again. If he stopped thinking about it he could almost get it, the words were on the tip of his tongue, but the minute he tried to bring it forward it disappeared.

"Don't worry; it will come. Do you remember working here?"

He shook his head. Nothing about this building was familiar. Not the faces, not the voices, not the furniture or equipment. With every question he was asked that he couldn't answer he became more and more frustrated. Why couldn't he remember?

The doctor put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It will be okay, I promise. You're among friends; we're going to do whatever we can to get back what you lost."

He nodded sullenly. "Thanks," he said, trying to muster a smile. It was hard, considering he had gone from being completely lost to having a group of friends he didn't even recognize within a matter of minutes. It was all a little much. He sighed.

"Get some rest; it's been a hard night for you, I'm sure. Things will look better when you wake up."

He grunted, but obediently lay down and closed his eyes. Maybe the doc was right.

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It took a little while for him to remember where he was when he woke up. It was at least a little familiar, which was comforting, considering it was about the only thing at the moment that was. He decided to give the whole memory thing another shot, so he tried to recall everything he could. It wasn't much. He strained to remember more, but all it got him was a headache, so he stopped, sighing in frustration.

_Let's see what else they've got here,_ he thought. _Maybe it'll jog my memory or something_. He got up and left the room, deciding to roam the halls until he found someone. Maybe he could get something to eat; he was starving.

It wasn't long before he got to a large room, part of which was sectioned off by tables literally covered with electronic equipment. There were at least three different keyboards, five different servers, and cables ran every which way across the tables, and were bundled together with tie-wraps to keep them at least somewhat out of the way. There were the two chicks from earlier sitting in that area, trying to get the computers to work, and failing by the looks of things. He couldn't hear much from where he was standing, only fragments now and again about someone named "Riley" and the fact that it was a shame that he had lost his memory because now they were stuck trying to do his job. _Wait, am I Riley? Must be; it's not every day someone loses their memory_. He rolled the name around in his brain, trying to see if it triggered anything. It was about as likely as anything else.

He approached the women hesitantly. What if they told him to leave, that a mistake had been made, that he wasn't who they thought he was after all? _To hell with it. What have I got to lose?_

He stood there for a few moments, trying to gather himself. "I'm Riley," he muttered to himself. They had addressed him that way in the alley, and had been talking about him as if that were his name, so it must be true. "I'm Riley, aren't I," he said, louder this time.

The women turned around, seemingly not surprised that he was there. "Yes," the dark-haired woman (_Maureen…?_) said, amused.

He looked around at the monitors that covered both make-shift walls behind the desks. Some were blinking, and others showed surveillance footage and pages of moving text, while still others showed nothing but black screens. "So what, I'm some sort of computer geek?" It seemed right, although he couldn't say why.

"In the best possible way, yes," said Maureen, smiling.

He continued to stare at the computers, oddly drawn to them.

"Do you want to try?" she asked.

He shrugged, but obediently sat down in front of the computers, looking over the various monitors and keyboards and dials and knobs. _Alright, so this is what I do. _He cracked his knuckles absently. _Feels right. What first, what first…_ He looked up at the monitors. Without knowing what he was doing or why, he moved a hand towards a pair of knobs, and turned the one on the left. He looked up, and more of the screens turned on, although now most of them were blinking. He returned his hand to the knobs, turning the other knob now. He looked up again, and all the screens were on, showing surveillance footage of various areas and other assorted screens that he couldn't put a name to. _So far so good…Now what?_ He again let his unconscious take over, since it seemed to know what it was doing far better than he did.

His fingers moved to the keyboard and began typing. A box popped up over one of the screens showing moving text, and characters began to fill the box. His fingers moved from the keypad next to the keyboard and back, and he stared at the string of characters that appeared on the screen. It was meaningless, a jumble of letters and numbers and symbols, but for the time being it seemed to be working. The women sitting next to him seemed encouraged, but they kept quiet, likely worried that if they interrupted him he would lose what little progress he had made.

Suddenly the computers started beeping. A tinny voice emerged from the speakers. "Warning. System failure. Warning. System failure. Warning-"

Riley let out a cry of frustration. He shoved the keyboard out of the way, again reminded that he knew absolutely nothing about who he really was.

"It's gonna be okay," said a voice from behind him. He turned his head to see the blond (_Jane_) looking at him concernedly. He nodded, unconvinced. He stared at the screens in front of him, at the characters that were so foreign to him but shouldn't have been.

He pushed the chair back abruptly and stood, brushing past the women who rose as if to stop him.

"Where are you going?" Maureen asked.

He shrugged. "Considering I still don't know who the hell I am or why I'm here, damned if I know," he said, trying not to sound as bitter as he felt. "A kitchen would be nice though. Who knows when the last time I've eaten was."

Maureen gave him directions to the kitchen, which kind of surprised him. He figured she'd at least bring him there herself, if for no other reason than to ensure he didn't get himself lost. Then again, the directions weren't overly complex, so maybe there had been a reason for it.

He got to the kitchen relatively without incident. _Now to get food…_ He found the cupboards, and began to sort through them, trying to find something edible. _Cereal, more cereal, protein bars, assorted MREs, and cans of condensed soup. Don't they have any real food here? Cereal it is, then…_

He pulled down a box and placed it on the table, then went to find some milk. That was relatively easy to find, but the bowl and spoon proved to be more difficult to locate. After opening every single drawer and door possible, he found them.

Having everything he needed, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and began to eat.

He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't notice anyone had entered the room until someone touched his shoulder gently, causing him to jump. He turned around, and was faced with an older black man. _Must be the caretaker guy…he's the only one I haven't met yet._ "Geez, man. A little warning would be nice," Riley joked.

The man smiled. "I'm sorry. I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet that…"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Riley said, wanting to save the other man the trouble of feeling awkward for something that wasn't his fault.

The older man (_Joe, it's Joe_) changed the topic. "I see you've found your cereal."

Riley looked at him, confused. "What?"

Joe gestured towards the box of Lucky Charms sitting on the table next to his bowl. "You're the one who insisted we buy it. Said that since there was no real food around here we might as well have something edible."

Riley smirked. "Well, it seems I was right; even with no memory I still think there's nothing edible here besides cereal."

Joe chuckled. "I guess there are some things about a person that will never change, no matter what."

**It's that time of the chapter again; you know what to do.**


End file.
